Square Enix has released a new timer that’s counting down to the release of a brand new Final Fantasy 7 Remake trailer. The counter is set to hit zero on September 11 at 7 am PT/10 am ET/3pm BST/ 11pm JST.
On Square Enix’s official Japanese website for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake, you’ll find a digital timer made to look like Nixie Tubes. It clearly says “New Trailer” atop the timer, so we can presumably expect one of those to go live once the timer hits zero.
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For Ray Shoesmith, being a hitman is just another day at the office. In Mr. Inbetween (Season 2 premieres September 12, at 10 on FX), Ray is balancing his “criminal for hire” employment with being a dad, brother and boyfriend. His job is demanding; requiring a personally defined code of ethics, the ability to operate in a shadowy world and the sense to not care what people think. And that’s just to get out of bed in the morning. After that, he still has to pick his kid up from school, take care of his brother, and try to find a shirt without blood stains for tonight’s date. Honestly, the guy should take some “me” time and relax sometimes. Play a video game. Have a cup of coffee. Heck, maybe these five assassins can meet up with Mr. Inbetween, grab a drink, and talk about what made them fall in love with the job in the first place.
It’s no secret that Mayans MC has been loaded with Easter eggs from and nods to the Sons of Anarchy universe the show is set in, which is undoubtedly exciting for fans of FX’s original motorcycle club series to see. In the show’s latest episode, though, the show took aim at some fans that might take the world of Sons of Anarchy a little bit too far.
In the new installment, titled “Xaman-Ek,” EZ (JD Pardo) and Angel (Clayton Cardenas) are on a road trip when encounter a strange motorcycle club neither have heard of before. Two members of the club try to intimidate the Mayans, proclaiming the bikers are on their turf. Showing that the Mayans aren’t to be messed with, Angel pulled a gun and chastised the duo that didn’t know any better.
“You poser f***ing douchebags. You guys watch some bulls*** TV show and think a vest and two wheels makes you a club,” he mocked, clearly making reference to those who saw Sons of Anarchy and decided starting a biker gang was easy to do. “Hmm. I’m guessing Brad and Todd here got all their totally awesome gym bros filling up their table.”
“Jesus, man, you guys are an embarrassment,” he concluded before himself and EZ rode away.
That wasn’t the end of that particular plot, though. The Reyes brothers later ran into the small-time gang again, this time with their entire membership. Again, Angel went for his gun and fired off a couple of shots to attract the attention of police, before leading the low-level club on a chase through town. When law enforcement tracks them down, the elder Reyes points out to the rival gang the credo of “patches over badges,” meaning even clubs at war will ceasefire when it comes to getting away from the law.
At that point, the “poser douchebags” broke off from the Mayans, claiming this quarrel wasn’t over. While it likely will come back to bite EZ and Angel in the future, it was a clear victory for the titular club over the fanboys. Angel, a tried and true outlaw biker, knew the bullets he fired would draw in the police and would force the local gang to take off. While EZ may be considered the genius in his family, it’s Angel that is smart to the ways of the MC world–and protective of it to those who think they can just claim their stake in it.
This is a moment that serves as a public service announcement to fans of Sons of Anarchy that may have taken their love for the show far enough to hope on a bike and throw on a kutte. The world of outlaw motorcycle clubs is very real and very serious. Those who inhabit it may not take kindly to those playing biker and infringing on something they hold dear.
Mayans MC airs Tuesdays on FX.
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Borderlands 3 is almost here. Gearbox’s next big looter-shooter arrives on September 13 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Like previous entries in the series, the music is one of its standout features. Music has been very important to the series from the beginning (the opening sequence in Borderlands 1 might have been the first time you heard “Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”), and this theme continues with Borderlands 3.
GameSpot recently had the opportunity to interview Borderlands 3 composer Jesper Kyd, who spoke to us about many different topics. Having already worked on Borderlands 1 and 2, as well as the Pre-Sequel and Claptastic Voyage, Kyd expanded on the challenges of making new music in a series he’s familiar with, as well as what it was like working with Gearbox, how the music ties together with Borderlands 3, bringing players to multiple planets outside of Pandora this time around.
Kyd also told us more about how Borderlands 3 makes use of a “deep interactive music system” that, through some backend wizardry and randomness, allows the game’s music to sound slightly different each time you play. Additionally, he explained that, at a high level, he wanted to try new things and break from some of the series tradition, while he also described the score as the “most varied” one he’s ever made for the Borderlands series.
“I knew right away the last thing I wanted to do was add the predictable swampy slide guitar on all the music. It just felt too pedestrian for Borderlands 3, it wasn’t out-there enough,” he said.
You can see the full review below. Kyd also composed the music for games in the Hitman, Assassin’s Creed, Darksiders, and State of Decay franchises.
For lots more on the upcoming Borderlands 3 launch, check out GameSpot’s roundup that covers the pre-load details, region unlock times, PC specs, and more. If you’re looking to pick up the game, you can check out GameSpot’s extended pre-order guide to learn more about what’s available.
GameSpot’s Borderlands 3 review scored the looter-shooter an 8/10. “Borderlands 3 has a few stumbling blocks when it comes to bosses, but these fights are overshadowed by the game’s rewarding gunplay and over-the-top humor,” reviewer Jordan Ramee said.
Jesper Kyd
Having worked on previous Borderlands games in the past, can you talk about the challenge of coming up with new ideas for a series you’re already familiar with?
After working on Borderlands 1 and 2, the last Borderlands games I scored were The Pre-Sequel and Claptastic Voyage, which were both science fiction-inspired scores mixed with the distinct feel of Borderlands. With Borderlands 3 we are back to Pandora as well as visiting new worlds such as the Eden-6 planet, which is the planet I scored. Scoring a brand-new addition to the Borderlands universe has been very exciting to work on. Eden-6 is a planet covered in swamplands and thick vegetation, so it was a very different writing experience from scoring the previous four Borderlands games I worked on. It is also the most varied Borderlands score I have written.
“Eden-6 is a planet covered in swamplands and thick vegetation, so it was a very different writing experience from scoring the previous four Borderlands games I worked on.” — Jesper Kyd
What kind of notes did Gearbox give you as it relates to the music they wanted?
They were looking for the music to help make Eden-6 sound unique from the other planets, yet at the same time help define this new unexplored world as a location that belongs in the Borderlands universe. I remember writing one of the cues that opens with a slow atmospheric guitar solo, a la Pink Floyd, and when I talked about this to the Gearbox audio director Raison Varner he mentioned the team was 100% on board with such ideas. The score I wrote doesn’t draw inspiration from any film or game soundtracks, the direction goes much further than that. Naturally the score also needed to support areas such as marshlands and wetlands and this is often mixed up with a high-tech mood, since advanced technology is ever-present.
How much collaboration was there between yourself and the team at Gearbox?
I worked closely with the audio department at Gearbox, specifically Raison Varner. We talked a lot about the different worlds I was working on and he really encouraged me to bring a lot of creativity to the writing. Borderlands is a perfect playground for me to let loose musically and after working on all the previous games and helping to establish the Borderlands sound, I was able to use a lot of my knowledge of the universe and creative energy to help push things much further this time around. That’s the great thing about returning to franchises; since you have already established the sound you can now invest time in pushing that sound further into new territories.
“Adding lots of melodies to the exploration music is something I felt would fit very well with this gameplay type. This is what I feel ties all my music together.” — Jesper Kyd
Borderlands 3 is such a sprawling game with so many different locations, characters, and moments–is there a connective tissue of a kind that ties your music together?
That’s a great observation. I feel my main menu music is a good example of the dynamic type of music I wrote for Borderlands 3. I really focused on adding a lot of melody to my writing. When playing games myself, my favorite musical moments are often those based on melody and this is something I talked a lot to Gearbox about and they loved that idea. Borderlands is such a high-octane experience, even when just exploring the maps, there is a ton of variation and entertainment throughout. So adding lots of melodies to the exploration music is something I felt would fit very well with this gameplay type. This is what I feel ties all my music together.
When you set out to make the music for Borderlands 3, what themes and tones did you want to highlight or accentuate? What kind of instrumentation were you looking to use?
I knew right away the last thing I wanted to do was add the predictable swampy slide guitar on all the music. It just felt too pedestrian for Borderlands 3, it wasn’t out-there enough. We are on an alien planet after all! So I pursued other ideas. There is a track called “Exploring The Dormant Ship” where I play a big Russian zither as well as some really warped pianos through a space echo; this really helped us realize that we could move way beyond just slide guitars and other more traditional bayou instrumentations. I then recorded a lot of vocal parts for the action part of this cue, which helps give the world a more immersive depth and richness of life.
I recently had the opportunity to play Borderlands 3 during a preview session. That dub-step boss was a musical treat; can you talk about how that all came together and what you were setting out to do with it? The way it uses music is so fascinating.
Great! I love that you noticed that. I wrote 10 minutes of end boss music to make all that come together like that. I had this idea of making the end boss music for Eden-6 something that really stands out with an atmosphere that lifts you up. I am a huge fan of boss battles and I’m fascinated with how games use boss music; Japanese games perform these types of gameplay moments especially well. Gearbox was onboard with this approach but when we put it in the game we all realized that we needed something different to set it up before we could give people this crazy melodic lift in spirits.
To make that transition work I wrote a track for the boss battle that’s really heavy and bombastic before introducing such a shift in uplifting mood. So if you ace this epic boss battle right away you’ll move on faster and the game will take you to the next world. But if you take longer in battle the game rewards you with a new level of atmosphere which gives you a feel of rising hope, that you can overcome this challenge. On the album, that track is called “Tranquility Achieved”.
“Borderlands 3 features a really deep interactive music system with many layers and modular pieces that are randomly put together in-game, so the music sounds a bit different every time you play the game.” — Jesper Kyd
I’ve read that you’re challenging yourself to experiment with new sounds for Borderlands 3. What does this mean?
Well, I am always looking at new ways to break the mold of what is expected and then take things further or go in a totally different unexpected direction that really rewards the gamers as well as fitting the game perfectly. There are so many interesting things that can only be done in the games medium and following the path of scoring games more traditionally is a lost opportunity, since I feel we have an opportunity to create something unique or surprising.
For example, once you finally make it to the end part of Eden-6, the music track “Treasures Of The Vault” starts with a set of upbeat motivational combat cues, to get the fun factor going out in full force. It’s like a reward for the game player while at the same time reminding you that you are finally here, that this is what you have been looking for, now fight and go claim your reward. These types of ideas are important to me as a gamer and I always think like a gamer when scoring video games. I really have to give credit to Gearbox and Raison Varner for allowing my creativity to run wild during the making of this score.
What else should people know about the soundtrack for Borderlands 3?
Borderlands 3 features a really deep interactive music system with many layers and modular pieces that are randomly put together in-game, so the music sounds a bit different every time you play the game. In addition to a more unique playing experience, this results in some really interesting soundtrack versions of the music. For example, there are exploration tracks on the soundtrack such as “Enter Floodmoor Basin” which are over nine minutes in duration as well as action music tracks such as “Treasures Of The Vault” which is an eight-minute piece. And these pieces of music never repeat any parts or themes but keep moving forward and developing. So it’s progressive in structure. The soundtrack, which also features music by co-composers Michael McCann, Finishing Move and Raison Varner, is almost six hours long and there’s a vinyl release on the way as well!
Credit: Activision
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare beta test kicks off this week and we partnered with Activision to give away 500 codes to our readers. The winners will get a sneak peak of the new collection of maps and modes before the official release on Oct. 25.
To enter, read our official rules, accept our terms and conditions and fill out the form below. Get additional entries by following us on social media to increase your chances of winning!
If you are having trouble viewing the entry form please click here.
Remember to check your email on Monday Sept. 16th because we will be sending the codes to all winners around 10 a.m. PT. The beta of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Multiplayer will be available for PS4, Xbox One and PC from Sept. 19 through 20 only.
Head to our comments and let us know what is your favorite mode and why. Good luck!
Editor’s Note: For Gears 5, we’re reviewing the campaign and multiplayer modes separately, followed by our overall review and score. This part covers the multiplayer modes – be sure to check out our campaign review here and the overall review coming soon.
The Gears of War franchise’s multiplayer is special, and Gears 5’s selection of multiplayer modes carries on its tradition of excellence. If you want a break from the intensity of Gnasher shotgun quickdraws in Classic and Ranked Versus, you can swap over to the chaotic weapon party of Arcade. Or a group of friends can jump into a long session of Horde, or Escape if we you’re short on time. They’re all fun and tense, as always, and the impressive new additions fill gaps for certain playstyles and moods.
Apple had a wealth of announcements to share during its Apple September event. Along with revealing new details about the Apple Arcade and Apple TV+ services, the company showcased the next generation of its flagship products, including the new iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.
The standard iPhone 11 features a 6.1 inch liquid retina display and true tone display, as well as Dolby Atmos support. The phone also has a dual camera system, with 12mp wide and ultra wide cameras, and 120-degree field of view. The iPhone 11 will come in six colors: red, black, yellow, white, purple, and green.
Apple briefly touched on other aspects of the phone as well. In terms of battery life, the company says the iPhone 11 will last one hour longer than the iPhone XR, and it features an A13 bionic CPU chip. As far as pricing goes, the iPhone 11 will retail for $699.
That isn’t the only new iPhone on the way, however. Apple also unveiled the iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max–higher end models with better specs. While the standard iPhone 11 comes with two cameras, the Pro boasts three. It comes in four colors–midnight green, space gray, silver, and gold–and is made from surgical grade stainless steel. It is also 15% more energy efficient.
Regarding battery life, the iPhone 11 Pro lasts four hours longer than the iPhone XS, while the Pro Max lasts up to five hours longer than the XS Max. The phones also come with a fast charge adaptor right out of the box. Of course, with better specs comes a heftier price tag. The 11 Pro costs $999, while the 11 Pro Max is $1099. You’ll be able to pre-order the phones beginning this Friday, September 13, and they’ll begin shipping out on September 20.
Apple’s September event is still ongoing, and it was packed with announcements. Among other things, the company also gave viewers their first look at the seventh-generation iPad. You can catch up on all the biggest news from the event below.
During the September 10 Apple event, we got to see a trailer for the upcoming Apple TV+ original See, which stars Jason Momoa.
The Apple Original takes place in the future, hundreds of years after a virus killed most humans. The ones that survived were left blinded, as was the rest of humanity going onward. The world has become much more primitive, and one day, twins are born with the ability to see. Check out the trailer for yourself below.
See will launch on the same day as Apple TV+, November 1. The Apple event also revealed the monthly price for the service, and Apple TV+ will be cheaper and launch sooner than the highly-anticipated Disney+.
Apple TV+ has plenty of other originals coming to subscribers, including Kumail Nanjiani’s Little America, which explores stories of people immigrating to the United States in a documentary-style format.
The Apple event also introduced the world to the 7th generation of iPad and some pricing info on the upcoming Apple Arcade monthly service. The biggest news of the event was information of iPhone 11, which has a dual camera system, with 12mp ultra wide camera, and 120-degree field of view.